Age 31 or a student? You probably 'like' brands

(2010 Mashable. All Rights Reserved.)

Internet technology and social media website Mashable published on November 15 an infographic (information graphic) of Facebook's biggest brands. But who likes brands on Facebook?

The "like" button - a "thumbs up" sign on Facebook - is used to express affiliation with or approval of anything from photos to status updates. Increasingly companies are leveraging the power of advertising to encourage Facebook users to "like" their brand or product. To date around 139 brands have over a million likes on Facebook.

According to the November 15 infographic, which was compiled using data from a 2010 Omnicom survey, the top five biggest brands on Facebook in terms of the number of "likes" are Starbucks, Coca Cola, Oreo cookies, Skittles sweets and Red Bull energy drinks. At the time of publication the infographic was correct, however updated rankings available at http://fanpagelist.com/category/brands show that, excluding brands Facebook and YouTube, Coca-Cola is now the most "liked" brand on the social networking site.

While it is not surprise that international giants such as Coca-Cola and Starbucks were top of the brand rankings, what is interesting is what the survey revealed about brand "likers" themselves.

According to the infographic quite a lot of "likers" probably have time on their hands, as the survey found that 17 percent of those who "like" brands on Facebook are unemployed and not students; however, a further 20 percent of "likers" are students. The majority of people who "like" brands follow more than one, the average "liker" following around 8.7 brands, and despite the perceived focus on youthful students the average "liker" is 31 years old. These "likers" were categorized as some of the most prolific users of the social networking site.

According to the infographic the total numbers of "likes" for the top five brands are:

Starbucks - 16.8 million
Coca-Cola - 16.5 million
Oreo - 13.1 million
Skittles - 12.3 million
Red Bull - 11 million

Read the study from Omnicom in full here (PDF)